Survey Says! Health-Care Costs Top CFO Worries

By Johanna Bennett

Health-care costs are a big concern for chief financial officers who are unsure what impact the Affordable Care Act will have on their companies next year.

That’s just one finding from the annual CFO survey released today by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Granted, responses to the poll, which covered250 finance executives at companies with annual sales of up to $2 billion, were taken before recent announcement that the employee mandate in the ACA will be delayed until 2015. That temporarily alleviates businesses with 50 or more full-time employees from paying a financial penalty if they don’t provide health benefits on Jan. 1.

Still, the figures are noteworthy. Seven out of 10 CFOs rank health-care costs as among their top concerns in 2013, heading a list that includes top-line growth, energy costs and taxes. In the same survey last year, only 51% of those polled named health-care expenses as a top concern.

Other survey results deserve to be noted:

CFOs are getting more optimistic about the economy with about 55% expecting the economy to grow in 2013, compared with 39% in the same survey six months ago. Only 10% said they expect the economy to shrink, down from 24% percent.

Almost half said they expect their companies to add workers this year.

Fifty-six percent of CFOs expect revenue growth – same as in the previous survey – while 43% percent anticipate a growth in profit margin, up from 40%.

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